Kopp, Nick: Me, the spouter of most of this website. Joined the Broughty Velo in 1986, raced hard the next three years and remained a small part of Dundee cycling scene through to 2000 when I disappeared to Holland occasionally surfacing in Dundee for the odd reliability or taking my vintage 1991 mountain bike around Monikie-Carrot circuit.

Andy Brewster writes:

- [Nick] First appeared on Broughty Velo race group runs in Autumn 1986 sporting a black tracksuit hence the nickname "Blackadder" which lasted until he went and bought some proper cycling clothes.- As a cyclist Nick was pretty much up for anything and had long-range stamina and a good talent for climbing, also handy at time trialling and descending.- Nick is a good map reader and navigator and his influence on his fellow riders has always been for exploration, often taking the bunch over new and untried routes, no mean feat in a Sunday run culture which tended to follow the same run each week [Once this included taking a large group on a ‘short-cut’ through a country estate that Lionel Wylie would always solo through no problem. We ended up with 8 punctures and guys baying for my blood]- Together with Colin Douglas and I, Nick organised a grand tour of Europe in 1989, which included the best part of 3 weeks riding in various parts of the Alps. The planning of the bike routes was largely Nick's doing and included many of the famous TDF passes plus many obscure and crazy routes in the maritime Alps. Colin and I went along with Nick's proposed routes even when they involved climbing 1800m of vertical height over the Stelvio (somewhat unwittingly in Colin's case !).- Nick is half German and during the 1989 tour, his linguistic skills were put to the test when he accused (while drunk) some unfriendly, and large, German motorbikers of having the "breath of a badgers arse". His German wasn't quite good enough for them to understand - lucky for us.- A keen researcher of the outer limits of orthodox science, Nick kept in touch with several scientists working on secretive (and oft disputed) energy-from-nothing and anti-gravity projects. Bear in mind that on those days it was all handwriten letters and photocopies - if only the internet had been around...- Nick is now based in Holland but the reunions continue, every few years we try and go on a cycling holiday together, for instance Vosges, Alps, Nice, Ardennes. As ever Nick provides the cycling routes.-Weren't you also some kind of 30 mile TT record holder at one point ? [Almost! I missed the junior record by a few seconds after Mike Burnett put me off 5th, though I blame the soft high pressure tyres and ‘riding for training’ for the upcoming junior road race champs!]

Kermode, George: International level rider and general hell raiser in the late 1970s and early 80s. Despite the sometimes bad reputation he had I always respected George, especially his manners and humour. George had a nasty accident once where the doctors feared he may not walk again. When asked if he was wearing a hat, he responed by saying yes, my tammy.

When I was absolutely flying during the winter of 1988/89 and he and Ando were making a comeback it was quite a compliment to hear George say, “Oh take it easy, not you!” as he pulled alongside me at the front of the bunch. George would sometimes work in my parents’ garden in the early 2000s.

Kermode, John: Younger brother of George. First heard of him when I saw him walking up the Moulin Moors because he had a 100” fixed gear and a 4 mile 1 in 7 hill was going to “break his chain”. A month or so later he won a 30 mile time trial in a howling gale. A pleasure to meet John again in 2006 after more than 18 years.

Ligget, Phil: Long, long time cycling commentator. First saw him on the 1986 Tour de France highlight program and listened to his drivel for many years until a bigger drivel spouter called David Duffield came along. Strongest memory is Ligget shouting himself hoarse when Stephen Roche almost recaught Pedro Delgado on La Plagne in 1987: “It’s Roche, it’s Stephen Roche!”.We used to yell that out on the bike for ages afterwards. By the way Phil does not seem a year older to me than he did in ‘86. Pretty cool.

LeMond, Greg: The big star of cycling when I started in 1986 then came the nightmare of the shooting accident in 1987. He and his La Vie Clair team dominated and in our heads we wanted to be like him. If I could have taken a drug to experience his power for say half an hour I would have started at Coupar Angus, blasted over Tullybaccart hill and then mashed the 53x12 all the way down the Boulevard into town.

Kelly, Sean (aka King Kelly): Arguably (though for us youngsters in the late 80s there was none) the hardest rider of modern times. Rode in the big chain ring up the hilltown in the prologue of the Tour of Britain in 1989 so that proves it.